


Deciphering You

by ExplainingTheIndescribable



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 22:26:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16774129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExplainingTheIndescribable/pseuds/ExplainingTheIndescribable
Summary: Ryan tries to be sneaky and convince Yaz to ask the Doctor out using Morse code. Only the Doctor also knows Morse code, but she doesn't quite catch enough of the conversation to know what's going on... Thasmin.





	Deciphering You

Ryan looked at Graham, who appeared to be happily eating his sandwich as he flicked through a magazine and unlikely to vacate the premises anytime soon, and then soon enough the Doctor would be back from making repairs elsewhere and then they’d be off on another adventure. He sighed, there was never going to be a good time to ask Yaz and then her and the Doctor would never get together and it’s not like he could just send her a message. He paused, unless…

Ryan nonchalantly tapped a few times on the floor with his foot. Yaz looked up from the purple couch she had gone with the Doctor to get a few nights before, eyeing Ryan suspiciously as she put her book down on her stomach. He couldn’t be…

Ryan tapped the same sequence again, _Yaz_

…He was. Yaz was highly bemused; Ryan was attempting to communicate with her through Morse code. It had been one of the most random things they had learnt in primary school, from a substitute teacher who had not come prepared with a lesson plan. But it had been useful on the odd occasion, and if she tried, Yaz could probably remember most of the alphabet…

Ryan looked at her, pretending to have innocent intentions. But she knew better, he wouldn’t have started a conversation so covertly unless he was planning something.

Yaz tapped back on the cover of her hardback, _what do you want?_

Ryan grinned, _so you and the Doctor…_

Yaz felt her cheeks warm at the unexpected comment, hoping against hope that Ryan was just psychic and she wasn’t as obvious as for him of all people to notice that sometimes she gazed at the Doctor just a fraction of a second too long. Or too lovingly. 

Ryan noticed Yaz’s reaction, congratulating himself silently with a little ‘I knew it’ dance.

Yaz rolled her eyes, _so what_. That grinning was infuriating.

_So, you like her, right?_

Yaz didn’t reply, choosing instead to shoot him a ‘stop asking’ look.

But Ryan was either oblivious or just having too much fun teasing her about her potential crush.

 _She’s cute_ , he paused for a moment and looked thoughtful, _for an alien…_ He hadn’t given much thought to how it would work with Yaz and the Doctor, just that Yaz clearly liked her and it was fun to tease her about it.

Yaz couldn’t help a smile; she was cute, t _rue_

_And she-_

Ryan stopped short as Graham finished his sandwich and looked up, “what is with all this infernal tapping? You’d think we have mice,” he grumbled, quickly picking his feet up off the floor for a minute.

“The Doctor did say she’d gone to do repairs,” Ryan said, leaning back in his chair, acting chill.

“Yeah, well, no wonder with the way this thing is rattling.” Graham settled back down, picking up a newspaper this time, and turning to the travel section; he quite fancied a piña colada on a beach somewhere, if the Doc could arrange it and the Tardis would agree.

While Graham was lost in thoughts of beach paradises, Ryan was resolutely avoiding eye contact with Yaz, trying to keep his cool and not laugh, like a kid almost caught doing something naughty but who got away with it, while Yaz covered her mouth and tried to hide her smile.

After recovering for a beat, Ryan started tapping again, softer, so as not to disturb Graham too much.

_That was close_

Yaz nodded and was about to pick up her book again when Ryan tapped out another message, _you should ask her out_

Yaz’s brain might have almost broken at the thought, but it definitely short-circuited.

She stared at Ryan as though he had grown another head, though for some reason beyond her comprehension, he seemed to be waiting for a reply. A minute passed and then another, Yaz ironically lost all sense of time.

This was-

She did not-

What.

 _You do like her?_ Ryan looked at her like it was the logical next step. As though Yaz had a chance with the Doctor – did she even date humans?

Yaz tapped back faintly, _yes, fine, I like the Doctor. So what_

_So… Tell her you think she’s cute, and then ask her out_

“Who’s Yaz asking out?”

The Doctor had just entered seconds before and was walking through the room, looking between Ryan and Yaz. If she hadn’t felt a little blindsided, she probably would’ve commented that she thought it was cool that they were using Morse code.

Graham put his newspaper down, “what’s going on?”

Ryan laughed nervously, well this had not gone as expected, “nothing, really. Graham, can I talk to you next door for a sec?”

He gave Yaz a meaningful look before taking Graham by the shoulders, “uh, alright,” he replied, before being steered out of the room by Ryan. Once they had closed the door behind them, the Doctor paused in her path and looked at Yaz.

“What’s going on?”

When Yaz didn’t reply right away, the Doctor put down the custard cream she was holding on the nearby table Ryan had just vacated and Yaz gulped, she must think it was serious. She tried to laugh it off, but it just sounded awkward to her own ear.

“Oh it’s nothing really.” The Doctor looked at her as she walked closer to Yaz, settling on the arm of the sofa and waiting to see if an explanation was forthcoming. Yaz moved her book to the side and sat up on the sofa, she didn’t want to lie to the Doctor but what else could she say? She took a breath, “Ryan was just trying to, uh, inspire some confidence, I guess?”

The Doctor nodded, catching Yaz’s gaze with those piercing green eyes, “whoever they are, they’d be lucky to have you, Yaz.”

Yaz broke eye contact, choosing instead to look at the, much safer, floor. It made her nervous, the Doctor’s proximity and the intense depth of her gaze; the floor never looked at her like that.

The Doctor slid down from the armrest and onto the sofa next to Yaz, “is that what’s bothering you? Or is it something else?”

She didn’t want to pry, but the Doctor could sense something was off. She had a pretty good intuition around those she cared about, when she stopped long enough to be aware of them.

Yaz folded her hands together and fidgeted a little. It was rare, these moments of quiet peace with the Doctor. She was always so full of energy, bursting at the seams and hurrying around to get things done. But in this moment, Yaz could feel her radiating calm; whether she knew that was exactly what Yaz needed right then, was another matter.

“In your lives, did you ever have someone you cared for?”

Yaz looked at the Doctor as she stared off into the middle distance with a hint of a smile on her lips, “yeah. I did.” She turned back to look at Yaz, “there are a lot of special people in the world. It might not last forever,” here a tinge of sadness crept into her expression, “but it’s part of life. Just because it’s temporary doesn’t make it any less valuable.”

Yaz’s eyes flicked across her face, trying to relate this side of the Doctor to all the others she had seen.

“It’s got to be difficult.”

The Doctor laughed, “gosh, yeah. It definitely doesn’t get any easier.” She tried to tear herself away from the memories creeping to the forefront of her mind, of everyone she had lost. There was a reason she didn’t allow herself to dwell on them; she wasn’t very good with pain; especially not this kind of emotional ache, hollowing out black nothingness in her soul. But still the memories were there, bubbling beneath the surface, reminding her of everyone who had been worse off having met her – the people she had tried the most to care for, done everything in her power to protect, and it was always them who paid the price; it was never enough. She could never do enough, no matter how many lives she saved. Survivor’s guilt was starting to gnaw at the sudden emptiness in her chest.

Yaz had gotten used to the Doctor embodying everything even remotely related to hope. But she could not see the Doctor she knew in her gaze at this moment. Not knowing what to do to give her even a shred of comfort after bringing up this pain, Yaz took her hand and kissed her palm, before placing the Doctor’s hand over her heart and covering it with both of her own. The Doctor seemed slightly confused as the touched pulled her out of her reverie, but when Yaz gave her a soft smile, the smile the Doctor gave in return reached her eyes after a moment.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a moment as the Doctor looked at one of her new best friends.

“You’re brilliant, Yaz.”

Yaz chuckled awkwardly, “yeah, I suppose I am.” She hadn’t been expecting that, but she pretended to go along with the Doctor cheekily, it seemed the safest option to distract her.

The Doctor could’ve chosen to roll her eyes and play it off, but this felt important. She shuffled closer to Yaz, turning her body so they were face-to-face, “I mean it, Yaz.” Yaz blushed, not quite knowing what to do with herself, “you are super duper important, and I’m ever so glad I met you.”

The Doctor noticed Yaz’ reaction and decided it was maybe enough for one day, she didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable, even if she had the best of intentions. She paused, before bringing back a bit of her usual energy and exclaiming, “Imagine life, without Yaz! No thank you, I don’t think so.”

“I can’t imagine my life without you in it any more, Doc.” She spoke truthfully, intending sound playfully rueful, but coming off a fair bit more serious than planned. The Doctor squeezed her hand, though it didn’t seem like enough.

A strand of Yaz’s hair fell forward and without thinking about it, the Doctor reached out to brush it behind her ear. “You might not believe me, but I meant it, by the way.”

Yaz looked at her. “Though I will forever be baffled that you don’t know how wonderful you are.”

“Doc…” Yaz tried to dismiss her with a wave of her hand, but the Doctor merely grinned at her.

“I’ll keep saying it until you believe me,” she said, in a sing-song voice.

The Doctor made to give Yaz a quick kiss on the cheek before she got up to continue her repair work, but Yaz turned to face her in the same fraction of a second and suddenly, they were kissing.

In another, overly quick, heartbeat both pulled back. The Doctor looked at Yaz, who was frozen, “I was going for your cheek, I mean it wasn’t intentional- I-“ Yaz was still looking at her with those beautiful big brown eyes and… wait, was what a hint of a smile?

Yaz studied the Doctor’s reaction, made brazen by the swirl of butterflies suddenly bouncing around her tummy. Then, she made a decision, “I’m just going to see something?”

Yaz leaned in slowly, partly to give the Doctor time to object, partly to give herself a moment to stay her courage and actually do what she wanted to, what she had been wanting to do for a while now.

In a moment, Yaz was kissing her properly. Without consciously thinking to do so, the Doctor’s hand slid up Yaz’s neck to rest at the nape, caressing the soft hairs there. Yaz’s hands settled on her waist, pulling the Doctor ever so slightly closer towards her on the sofa.

Neither could tell how long had passed, before both needed to pull back for air. The Doctor rested her forehead against Yaz’s, keeping her eyes closed and allowing herself to enjoy their closeness. As Yaz ran her fingers slowly up and down the Doctor’s legs, a thought occurred to her. She grinned and opened her eyes. Yaz looked at her questioningly, “what..?”

“You were talking about me, weren’t you?” Yaz groaned and leaned back, she was going to kill Ryan. The Doctor looked at her with a whole new layer of meaning, no longer hidden from Yaz, in her trademark beaming smile. It took Yaz’s breath away. Well, maybe not kill Ryan… after all, he was kinda the reason it had happened? She chose not to think about it, instead focusing on the wonderful woman in front of her.

The Doctor leaned in and pressed their lips together softly, “if it helps, I would’ve been incredibly jealous of whomever you chose to ask out. Okay, I was jealous. But I was jealous of me, I just didn’t know it. So I don’t think that should count.”

Yaz laughed, “nerd,” and pulled her into another kiss.

Once they broke apart, the Doctor stuck her tongue out, “maybe. You love it.” She got up and literally skipped away before Yaz had time to respond.

Yaz smiled at the corridor the Doctor had just gone down. “Yeah,” Yaz said quietly, “I think I might just.”


End file.
